''Partitiviridae'' is a family of double-stranded RNA viruses.

Plants Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

, and

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

serve as natural hosts. It has been suggested that they can also infect

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

. The name comes from the Latin ''partitius,'' which means divided, and refers to the segmented genome of partitiviruses. The family contains five genera.

Structure

Viruses in the family ''Partitiviridae'' are non-enveloped with icosahedral geometries and T=1 symmetry. The diameter of partitiviruses is around 25–43 nm.

Genome

Partitiviruses have double-stranded

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

genomes divided into two genomic segments, and there may be additional subgenomic segments. The two

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

segments are packaged in separate virus particles. They code for two separate proteins. The first segment codes for the

RNA-dependent RNA polymerase RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) or RNA replicase is an enzyme that catalyzes the self-replication, replication of RNA from an RNA template. Specifically, it catalyzes synthesis of the RNA strand Complementarity (molecular biology), compleme ...

(RdRp), and the second segment codes for the coat protein. The segments are around 1.4–3.0 kbp in length, while the total genome length is around 3.0–4.8 kbp.

Life cycle

Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Entry into the host cell is achieved by penetration into the host cell. Replication follows the double-stranded RNA virus replication model. Double-stranded RNA virus transcription is the method of transcription. The virus exits the host cell by cell-to-cell movement. Fungi and plants serve as the natural host. Cryspoviruses infect apicomplexian protozoa of the genus ''

Cryptosporidium ''Cryptosporidium'', sometimes called crypto, is an apicomplexan genus of alveolates which are parasitism, parasites that can cause a respiratory and gastrointestinal illness (cryptosporidiosis) that primarily involves watery diarrhea (inte ...

'',Nibert ML, Woods KM, Upton SJ, Ghabrial SA (2009) Cryspovirus: a new genus of protozoan viruses in the family Partitiviridae. Arch Virol 154(12):1959–1965 while viruses of the other genera infect plants and fungi. It has been suggested that they can also infect bacteria.

Phylogenetics

Based on the RNA polymerase gene this group can be divided into four clades (I-IV). Four isolates from animals and protozoans form a fifth clade. Clades I–IV consist of mixtures of partitivirus-like sequences from plants and fungi.Liu H, Fu Y, Xie J, Cheng J, Ghabrial SA, Li G, Yi X, Jiang D (2012) Discovery of Novel dsRNA Viral Sequences by In Silico Cloning and Implications for Viral Diversity, Host Range and Evolution. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e42147.

Taxonomy

The family contains the following genera: * '' Alphapartitivirus'' * '' Betapartitivirus'' * '' Cryspovirus'' * '' Deltapartitivirus'' * '' Gammapartitivirus''

References

External links

ICTV Online Report: ''Partitivirdae''

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3772877 Virus families Riboviria